1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor equipment housed in a cooler and a refrigerator for cooling the semiconductor equipment.
2. Description of the Background Art
In general, a semiconductor device operates faster at low temperature. For carriers are less vulnerable to scattering, increasing mobility, at low temperature. To operate the semiconductor device at low temperature, however, a special high-cost cooling system (e.g., a cooling system using liquid nitrogen) is required, so this has not been prevalent. Therefore, the semiconductor device is used mainly at room temperature.
In the semiconductor device used at room temperature, a flowing current causes heating to raise temperature, deteriorating mobility, and consequently the operating speed of the semiconductor device decreases.
On the other hand, a refrigerator at home is used only for cooling foods. FIG. 52 is an external view showing a constitution of a background-art refrigerator 900. A refrigerator compartment 901 mainly houses beverages, dairy products, eggs and the like. A freezer 904 houses meets, ice and the like. The refrigerator compartment 901 is provided with a door 910 and the freezer 904 is provided with a door 911. Drawer compartments 902 and 903 each house vegetables and the like.
It is disadvantageous that the foods housed in the refrigerator 900 can be checked only when the door 910 or 911 is opened or the drawer compartment 902 or 903 is drawn.
The present invention is directed to a semiconductor equipment. According to a first aspect of the present invention, the semiconductor equipment comprises: clock generation means for generating a first clock and a second clock having a frequency higher than that of the first clock; and a processing unit operating on the basis of either one of the first and second clocks and having a semiconductor device.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, the semiconductor equipment of the first aspect further comprises a switch for switching between the first and second clocks depending on temperature to transmit one of them to the processing unit.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, the semiconductor equipment comprises: a phase locked loop circuit receiving a reference clock having a reference frequency, for multiplying the reference frequency to generate a multiple clock, and making an alignment in phase between a divided result of the multiple clock by a predetermined value and the reference clock; and a processing unit operating on the basis of the multiple clock and having a semiconductor device. In the semiconductor equipment of the third aspect, the predetermined value becomes larger as the temperature becomes lower.
The present invention is also directed to a refrigerator. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the refrigerator comprises: a refrigerator compartment for housing foods; and a freezer housing a semiconductor equipment using a semiconductor device and having connection means connected to the semiconductor equipment.
According to a fifth of the present invention, in the refrigerator of the fourth aspect, the freezer is a drawer compartment, and the semiconductor equipment comprises an input/output media port facing an opening of the drawer compartment.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the refrigerator of the fifth aspect, the drawer compartment is drawable from a front side of the refrigerator and the opening is located on the front side of the refrigerator.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the refrigerator of the fourth aspect further comprises the freezer exposing the input/output media port of the semiconductor equipment.
According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, the refrigerator of the fourth aspect comprises: second connection means provided on a front side of said refrigerator and connected to the connection means of the freezer.
According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the refrigerator of the fourth to eighth aspects, the semiconductor equipment is connected to input/output means of the semiconductor equipment through a network.
According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, the refrigerator of the fourth to ninth aspects houses a backup battery of the semiconductor equipment outside the freezer.
According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, in the refrigerator of the fourth to tenth aspects, the semiconductor equipment uses an SOI device.
According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, the refrigerator of the fourth aspect further comprises a refrigerator controller for controlling a function of the refrigerator. In the refrigerator of the twelfth aspect, the semiconductor equipment has a microprocessor, and the refrigerator controller is connected to the microprocessor with an input/output bus.
In the semiconductor equipment of the first aspect of the present invention, since the cooled semiconductor device with higher mobility can operate on the basis of the second clock, the operation can be performed by using the first clock at high ambient temperature and the second clock at low ambient temperature.
The semiconductor equipment of the second and third aspects of the present invention makes it possible to automatically increase the frequency of the operation clock of the semiconductor equipment to improve the operating speed thereof at low temperature.
The refrigerator of the fourth aspect of the present invention cools the semiconductor device without inhibiting connection of the semiconductor equipment with the outside to improve the operating speed of the semiconductor equipment.
In the refrigerator of the fifth and sixth aspects of the present invention, the freezer is the drawer compartment and the input/output medium can be easily brought in/out through its opening.
In the refrigerator of the seventh aspect of the present invention, the input/output medium can be brought into or out from the semiconductor equipment without opening the door of the freezer.
In the refrigerator of the eighth aspect of the present invention, the semiconductor equipment can be connected to the outside without a labor of moving the large-sized refrigerator.
In the refrigerator of the ninth aspect of the present invention, since an input/output operation can be performed on the external input/output means while the semiconductor equipment is housed in the refrigerator, it is possible to solve the problems that the semiconductor equipment can not be used because it is housed in the refrigerator and the semiconductor equipment can be used only the place where the refrigerator is installed, e.g., a kitchen.
In the refrigerator of the tenth aspect of the present invention, by housing the backup battery outside, which is likely to be deteriorated at low temperature, it is possible to lengthen the lifetime of the backup battery.
In the refrigerator of the eleven aspect of the present invention, by cooling the semiconductor equipment using the SOI device in which the heat is hard to radiate, it is possible to manifest the potential capability of high-speed operation of the SOI device.
In the refrigerator of the twelfth aspect of the present invention, the refrigerator controller which controls the function of the refrigerator can be controlled by the microprocessor of the semiconductor equipment.
An object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor equipment housed in a cooler for faster operation and a refrigerator for cooling the semiconductor equipment.
These and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.